


they say here comes a hurricane

by serenitysea



Series: we are the architects of light { lara 'verse } [6]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Kidfic, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 23:45:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3915166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenitysea/pseuds/serenitysea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>aka</b>: three times skye and ward tag teamed lara (while she demonstrated quite the colorful vocabulary and understanding of <i>the way things work</i>.)</p><p>*</p><p>“Peanut.” Ward pushes away from the desk to sit on his heels next to Lara. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”</p><p>The wattage of the grin she unleashes on him is near lethal and Ward privately wonders how much trouble they’re all going to be when she’s old enough to realize what she can do with it. “Practicin’.”</p><p>Despite the situation, Ward finds himself intrigued. “Practicing what?”</p><p>“Concealer.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	they say here comes a hurricane

_(really really sleepy lara)_

1\. 

Lara is so tired.

Skye glances over to where her daughter is practically asleep at the table and smiles fondly. With the legendary stubbornness she’d inherited from her father, Lara had insisted that she would be able to stay up late to spend time with the family as everyone gathered to congratulate Emmy on her achievements.

“Ward.” She nudges him in the side, nodding at their daughter.

The corners of his mouth drift up in a barely concealed smile. “Got her.”

He pushes back from the table easily and loops around to swing Lara up into his arms. She protests sleepily and reaches out with grabby hands in the general direction of Emmy — who is surrounded by a metric truckload of books and countless gadgets. (Someone needed to _stop telling_ Tony when they were having a family celebration. He didn’t know the meaning of low-key.)

“Bedtime for little Lara loo.” Ward kisses her forehead in an attempt to head off the tears that are due to be making an appearance any second.

Sure enough Lara’s eyes fill with tears — she is so miserably overtired from the excitement of the day — and she is about five seconds from a total meltdown.

He gives her a quick squeeze and intends to put her to bed with a quickness, but there is a sharp tug on his shirt that impedes his progress.

Emmy stands there patiently, looking up at them with an alertness that tells him she knows exactly what’s going on with her cousin. Lara wriggles relentlessly until Ward is forced to put her down and she can wrap her little arms around Emmy.

“Love,” Lara yawns sleepily, her knees going lax in exhaustion.

Emmy grins ruefully and grabs her cousin to keep both of them from going down under Lara’s dead weight. “Get some sleep, kiddo.”

“Proud.” Lara stubbornly insists, clinging tightly when Ward tries to lift her away.

“Yes, you are very proud,” Emmy teases, deliberately misunderstanding. She winks at her uncle. “But you should sleep now. We’ll have an adventure tomorrow if you like.”

Lara nods, half-asleep. “ ‘venture.”

Ward raises his eyebrows at both of the girls. “Can I tuck the hurricane into bed now?”

“Lara?” Emmy archly inquires.

“ ‘Kay.” She practically falls against Ward’s legs in total exhaustion.

“She’ll rest now, I think.” Emmy confirms seriously to Ward, who has been watching the entire development with some amusement.

“Thank you, Imogene.” He picks Lara up and carefully holds her against his chest.

Feeling rather magnanimous due to her achievements and also that she is able to help calm her cousin down when it seems that even Ward cannot, Emmy sniffs regally and returns to the table. She has the rest of her people to see to and it looks like her father is about to deck Uncle Tony if he continues badgering for the patent rights to her new invention.

(It won the contest, so she isn’t surprised that he wants it. But it’s hardly worth patenting. The thing is still in early stages yet.)

* * *

 

_(pecan pancakes eating breakfast lara)_

2.

“Lara _Elizabeth_. You have approximately three _seconds_ to get your butt in here _RIGHT NOW_ —”

A delighted giggle pulls Ward away from his paperwork and he looks down to see Lara crouched by his feet. She is hiding from Skye because it is bath time — which she _hates_ because of the pain involved with combing out the tangles from her hair after.

“Peanut.” Ward pushes away from the desk to sit on his heels next to her. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

The wattage of the grin she unleashes on him is near lethal and Ward privately wonders how much trouble they’re all going to be when she’s old enough to realize what she can do with it. “Practicin’.”

Despite the situation, Ward finds himself intrigued. “Practicing what?”

“Concealer.”

There is a muffled choking sound from the doorway and Ward spots Skye, valiantly trying to hold back laughter. He rolls his eyes and mouths, ’ _She is one hundred percent YOUR daughter._ ’

Skye shakes her head firmly, pointing back at him. ’ _No way. She’s all YOURS, buddy._ ’

He presses his lips together, pretending to gravely consider the matter at hand. “So you’re working on concealment?” At Lara’s happy nod, he continues, “You know the last place Mommy would think of to look for you?”

“ _Where_?” Lara’s eyes are wide and a little horrified that a better hiding place had not crossed her mind. (She fancies herself quite good at this game.)

“The bath.”

Lara sighs heavily. “ _Daddy_.” The look she gives him is an exact copy of her mother’s ’ _you have GOT to be kidding me_ ’ face. Neither of them suffer fools gladly, and it reminds him of that fateful day on the Bus when he and Skye had first met.

“No, hear me out.” He raises his hands palms up, seeking peace for a little while longer. “You know Mommy’s already left and she’s on the search for a sneaky little girl who is trying to escape.” The sounds of Skye’s footsteps slowly fade away and he inwardly smiles. “If you get in there before she comes back, you could probably do your hair by yourself and avoid the knots completely.”

Lara flies into his arms, smacking loud kisses on his face in heartfelt gratitude. “You’re the _bessssssst_!”

She executes a very badly done tuck-and-roll — and would have taken down one of the desk lamps by way of the cord, if not for his quick reflexes — and tiptoes into the hallway like her life depends on it.

(In all fairness, Ward has seen the wide toothed comb they use to get the knots out from Lara’s hair and it isn’t pretty. It’s like some kind of torture device, so her life pretty much does depend on it.)

There is a loud crash from the bathroom followed by a huge splash of water.

Ward covers his eyes briefly.

Lara was practicing her 'jumps’ — presumably from the toilet to the bathtub (though she imagined it to be from any spot of danger that tickled her fancy) — _again_.

They were definitely going to have to talk to Fitz about waterproofing the floors. He sends off a quick text message to ask how quickly it can be managed and distantly wonders if the water damage will have leaked into the kitchen again.

* * *

 

_(creeping down the hall after bedtime to see mommy and daddy kissing)_

3.

Packing before a mission is always a little hectic, especially one that they’re going on together. Since Lara had been born, they’d been pretty careful about not going into the field at the same time — but this particular extraction required both of their skill sets and there was no getting around it.

“Have you seen my —”

Ward is holding up her extra cowl and vest, tucking them neatly into his bag with that same level calm that he’d had since what felt like ever. If nothing else, Skye can at least depend on that. There’s something very comforting about it.  

“Hey.” He rounds the bed to pull her into his arms and kiss her. “It’s going to be okay. Lara will stay with Fitzsimmons, she’ll have her cousin, we’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’m just.” How does Skye explain to him that something doesn’t _feel right_ about this? That she’s nervous, despite the fact that there is _no one_ she trusts more than him to watch her back; that their daughter will be in the best possible hands; that they’ll have Coulson and May running comms and support.

Ward draws back far enough to look her in the eyes. “I know.” When she remains quiet, he laces their fingers together. “We’re going to be okay.”

Skye draws what comfort she can from their linked hands and the steadiness he is projecting like it’s her lifeline and gradually, the panic bleating in her mind because to fade away. “We should check on Lara.”

He nods, keeping her close as they leave the bedroom and go down the hall. There is a suspicious lack of noise coming from their daughter’s room.

Looking inside is slightly more heartbreaking.

Lara is sitting on her bed, listlessly making her stuffed animals sit in a line before viciously batting them off the side. They fall and bounce on the ground a couple times, and one of them eventually rolls to a stop at Ward’s feet.

Skye exchanges a look with him before stepping into the room and clearing her throat. “Lara.”

“You don’t have to tell me. You’re goin’ away.” She’s pouting and it would be adorable in any other instance, but everyone’s emotions are running pretty high right now and it’s hitting a little too closely to home.

Outside a steady rain drizzles and turns the sky dark.

Ward gingerly steps over the remaining fallen animals and sits on the bed. Lara comes sliding to the edge  from the combined weight as Skye joins him. Skye leans against him and pulls Lara into her arms, and the little girl lets herself be cuddled tightly.

“We’re coming back in a few days.”

But Lara will not be so easily swayed. She nods glumly, “You’re going away because I made the house rain again in the kitchen.”

“What?” Skye can’t hide her bewilderment. “Baby, _no_. We’re not mad about that.”

“I mean, I was pretty sad that we couldn’t have pecan pancakes for a few days,” Ward admitted, drawing a quick smile from Lara. He gives her a double eskimo kiss. “And Uncle Fitz and Trip are going to fix that while we’re away. But not because we’re mad. It just happens to be the best time to do it.”

Lara is very quiet while she thinks this over. “So you’re coming home in how many days?” The look on her face is not unlike Skye’s when she is demanding an answer that no one seems particularly inclined to give and Ward has to bite his cheek to keep from smiling.

He holds up his hand, displaying three fingers. “This many.”

Lara counts them carefully, scrambling out of Skye’s reach to crawl onto her father’s lap. She puts her face very close to Ward’s, until the only thing he can see are the flecks of green in her hazel eyes. “ _Promise_.”

Beside him, Skye makes a slight noise of distress and then seems to recover, fishing out her phone and snapping a quick shot of the moment.

“I promise.” Ward tells her, very seriously.

Lara sighs heavily as if all of this is nothing more than an extreme inconvenience on her life. “Well then I wish you guys would stop moping around like you’re leaving me for a candymoon again.”

This time, Ward is at a loss while Skye tries to contain her laughter. “A… candymoon?”

“When you go away on a candymoon after you get married or want to kiss all the time. You guys are on a candymoon when you’re home so I don’t know why you have to go away for one anyway.”

“A honeymoon,” Skye clears her throat loudly, attempting to regain the thread of the conversation. “I can tell you that this is not a honeymoon, and —” She lowers her voice conspiratorially, leaning in close to the little girl, “There’s probably not even any kissing involved.”

Lara’s eyebrows furrow. “Won’t you be sad? Should be a least _some_ kissing. You guys like that.”

“Oh?” Ward asks, picking her up as he gets to his feet. Lara dangles from legs hanging off his arm. “And how would a little peanut like you know about her mom and dad kissing? I’m almost _positive_ you’re supposed to be _sleeping_ when Mommy and I do that…”

“Sometimes Daddy,” Lara informs him, “I don’t always go to sleep when you tuck me in, because the animals get hungry and I have to feed them.”

“Hmmm.” He squints at her, pretending to be stern. “We’re going to have a serious chat with these animals of yours and their feeding habits.”

“Please do,” she waves a hand to the room at large, nearly whacking Skye in the face. “They’ve been very bad these days.” A mischievous smile creeps across her face. “But also you and Mommy kiss a lot when you’re making food in the kitchen or getting ready for work so you are maybe a little bad like the animals, too.”

By now, Skye has completely lost the fight with attempting to remain composed and has her face buried in one of the pillow on the bed as she shakes with laughter.

“ _That’s it_. You’ve left me no choice. It’s ticklefest for Hurricane Lara.” Ward hoists Lara over his shoulder and carries her out of the room as she shrieks and giggles hysterically.

Skye eventually finds her chill and rolls onto her back, squishing Lara’s favorite stuffed alpaca in the process. “Sorry bud,” she sets him upright against the pillows and fondly listens to the sound of her daughter’s laughter echoed by Ward’s low rumbling tones and it soothes all the raw places inside of her.

(They actually miss the rendezvous point and no one hears from them for three days. But that’s another story.)

**Author's Note:**

> \+ [tumblr](http://b-isforbombshell.tumblr.com)


End file.
